7/29/2014

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has asked students and staff of the schools in some regions of Iran to make donations in order to cover the cost of its intervention in Syria.

SANA has still not mentioned the loss of the Division 17 base in ar-Raqqa.The Islamic State has not yet established a HQ in the base out of fear of government airstrikes.

Aleppo’s governor, Mohammad Wahid Akkad, said that more than 10 factories have resumed production in Sheikh Najjar.

At least 13 government fighters were killed in Old Aleppo when 2 tunnel bombs under the old police headquarters were detonated.

Rebels have been sending reinforcements to the village of Tal Shaeer, their nearest foothold to Sheikh Najjar in Aleppo, in order to prepare a counter-attack to retake the industrial area. The operation is named The Sword of Aleppo for the People of the Levant.

Rebels fear that Sheikh Najjar will be used as a launching point to push west and encircle their remaining positions in the city. Currently rebels hold one road to resupply their forces in the city, and the government controls the surrounding hills in the area.

Abu Bakr, a commander of Jaish al-Mujahedeen, said that the government was able to take Sheikh Najjar because rebels had to be diverted to the northern Aleppo countryside to protect their hometowns against attacks from the IS.

Nasr al-Hariri, the Secretary-General of the Syrian National Coalition, said that rebels need to structure who gets weapons and who they are used against. He reiterated that the government should be the primary target. He also said that members of the coalition will be making trips to the country to witness what is actually happening on the ground.

Rebels are currently about 9 km from the Hama Military Airport and hitting it with Grad rockets after making advances in the last few days, including seizing a weapons depot and capturing a major checkpoint at Tarabih. Hama city has now been cut off from villages to its west.

Rebels took Jalamah in the northern Hama countryside.

Rebels reportedly made advances in the southern part of Morek in Hama province, which saw a heavy government assault 2 weeks ago.

A TOW fired by Division 13, an FSA division, in Morek:

A TOW in Hama:

The EU said it would release a further $67 million for humanitarian aid in Syria.

5 children and 2 women were killed by a government airstrike on the village of Shenan in Idlib.

2 Jabhat al-Nusra fighters were killed by government forces in fighting around Mleha in Rif Dimashq.